Rds1983

I struggle to accept that we cannot convince people that we are a more suitable long term prospect than Sunderland, Norwich or Bournemouth. Yes, they are ahead of us on points but they are all still very likely to go down. We should be telling players that we have not accepted relegation and that we are going to try and escape and that all we need is one or two key signings to finish games off. We should also be able to offer better wages and an increased likelihood of promotion IF we do go down.

He is here until July 2018, that's two and a half more years.

Surely at the very least we should be bringing in a few players that would do well in the Championship. Add a bit of depth to the current squad, keep Remi and the fans happy and give the new players six months to settle so that we hit the ground running next season.

Austin. Afobe Khazri. Amartey Saivet. Townsend Cissokho Kone. Okore Byram Valdes What could have been. Not saying all these players are better then what we currently have or worth what was paid for them or that they would have joined us but the fact that we haven't improved a single position when we could have had basically a whole new team is depressing.

So he will, for some reason I thought his birthday was earlier in the year.

It's why Chelsea only give one year deals to players over 30. Might result in a few players leaving on a free but I think it's the right approach overall. Gabby will be 32 when his contract runs out. For a 'pace' player that is too old regardless of motivation.

He signed a four year deal in 2014. So we have a few more years of his company left.

The four teams above us have all made at least one signing (some teams more than one) and Swansea are about to spend £8m on a striker apparently.

Even if it did he was 70 odd days ahead of the next guy. He's had horrible luck with that injury.

Article on bbc sport talking about Daniel Sturridge's injury record and saying he isn't the biggest sick note. They list Wilshere and Gabby as having had more injuries than him but the record for longest injury is Kozak at 494 days. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35413820

The only way he will get a similar or larger contract is if he moves to somewhere like China.

Seeing as we have been in a relegation fight the last few years and we were only signing players who would have a relegation wage clause I doubt we will have agreed to relegation release fees at values less then we paid. They are quite probably in the contracts, but not at crazy low fees but probably about 25% higher then we paid. If a player or agent tried to push for a dirt cheap one we will have likely not signed that player. To do otherwise would be pure idiocy.

I think Jet might have been my first love.

This is the most interesting post I've seen in here for a while.

Thye have three good players, you forgot Kante. But still a very lucky team. They are very low in all the tables (stats wise) but the one that counts. I will be very suprised if they finish the season anywhere near as high as they currently are and even more suprised if they keep hold of Vardy, Mahrez and Kante next season. The wages they could get from a transfer outweigh what Leicester will be able to offer. I also wouldn't be suprised if it gets leaked that they have minimum fee clauses in their contracts.

There was one player but he couldnt get a work permit. This transfer window is a massive joke though.

I never said Gabby was intelligent.

There will always be exceptions to any rule but I think it will get quite stable going forwards due to the difference in resources. It will be a more exaggerated version of Olympiacos winning the Greek League nine times out of ten or the same usual teams in the top four.

Nope. Dont blame bad decisions on conspiracy but rather people being idiots.

The fans were right not to accept McLeish. Ignoring the fact that he managed a rival, at the time we were a team who had recently been challenging for the Champions League and had been to Wembley twice in one season. We deserved a manager with a better pedigree than recent relegation and coming third in a two horse race.

It will likely become a closed group of 23 to maybe 26 teams that stay in the Premiership with the weakest six to nine rotating in promotion and relegation. The 23 being next years premiership teams and the three teams promoted up next season (hopefully Villa if we do go down). The other three teams being mixed in being those that get into the Premiership the year after and are financially viable enough to not get completely left behind after only a year or two (big stadiums/following/sponsorships). The increased parachute payments will keep the top of the Championship pretty stable. Villa need to make sure we get back up asap. The only other way a team will get up is with either a lot of luck or a change to the financial fair play rules.

Don't forget Henri Saivet. If he fulfils his football manager potential he will get them at least 30 goals by the end of the season.

Agree with nearly everything you wrote, but your first sentence implies that Villa are not a 'really big club' and I just cannot like a post that implies this. Even if I sadly know we no longer are.

Is this a clever bluff to throw suspicion of you actually being Hollis?